Tag: Hacking Lab

I have recently been setting up a Virtual Lab to use with Kali Linux, to safely practice some pen-testing. And just messing around with some stuff, but the first thing I needed to do before I started was to create a safe environment for myself to practice in. I did this by using VMware

VMware is a virtual machine package allowing you to run virtual machines on your main devices, this can be used for a number of different things. Such as setting up a forensics test environment to discover how some application change the machines as they are used. Or to practice ethical hacking in a safe and secure environment. This can be important because unless you had permission to practice on a real network you would be in breach of a number off different laws depending on the country your in.

This means without having access to a functional lab you’d struggle to either practice away from your studies or to even get started without the worry of getting yourself into trouble. Due to these reasons I went about setting my self up a little lab using VMware. This was very straight forward and simple to-do. And now means I can practice to my hearts content without the risk of breaking any laws.And here is how I did it.

First thing you will need to do is go to the VMware website, and download the VMware Workstation Player (And don’t worry its free for personal use)Once you have downloaded and installed VMware, you will be greeted by this window. From here we are going to select “Create a New Virtual Machine”Once you have selected to create a new virtual machine, you will have to select the ISO you wish to install (I will leave a list of Linux ISO below)Once you have selected your operating system you will be asked to enter information about the userThe next step is to decided where you want to save your VM files and to name the VM if you have multiple VM’s of the same operating system this is usefulto manage and keep track of them.You will then be asked to select how much storage you want the virtual machine to have, I usually leave it around the 20GB mark but you can do what ever best suites your needs. As I only use mine for testing purpose and never store any data on them.This is the final stage before powering on your VM, and is also the stage you are give the option to assign how much hardware the VM will receive.Once you have decided how many cores and how much ram your VM is going to require you need to go down to the networking option and select Host-Only. This means that you will only be able to communicate with machines on the same virtual network as yourself.And finally you should be able to power on your virtual machine and install the operating system. Once this machine boots up you will be in your own virtual network and can practice your hacking in a safe and secure environment.

So if you follow all of the steps above you will be able to repeat this step to install OS such as Kali Linux, this is my go to operating system for practicing ethical hacking as it has all the tools you could need and is used within industry meaning you will have access to tools that are used by professionals.

I found it useful to play around with some older operating systems to practice on first, this tended to be Windows XP or an older version of Ubuntu. This is due to the security features on Windows 10 for example and more advance making it more of a struggle to practice. I also found the easiest way to get a Windows XP key was to have a look around the house and try and find an old laptop that ran windows XP and use the serial off that. But if you don’t have any laying round the house you can buy them on eBay for about £30.